I just got a message from someone claiming to be a Solidity dev with five years’ experience—except Solidity’s not that old. That moment made me realize just how aggressive bad actors have become in targeting the crypto industry. And guess what? Some of the slickest, most well-funded attackers are linked to North Korea's Crypto Hacks. Their tactics? Social engineering, malware-laced job applications, and outright theft.If you’re in crypto, whether as a founder, recruiter, or security pro, you’re already in their sights. But there’s good news: by strengthening cybersecurity teams and tightening hiring processes, we can make it a whole lot harder for them to succeed.
North Korea’s most notorious cyber outfit, the Lazarus Group, has stolen billions from crypto projects. Their approach isn’t just about brute force hacks; they’ve mastered the long game.Take Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge hack in 2022—$625 million vanished. How? A North Korean hacker infiltrated the company by posing as a top-tier engineer, securing a job, and then injecting malware. By the time the breach was discovered, the funds were gone.Another classic move? Fake LinkedIn job offers. Engineers and executives get approached by “recruiters” from seemingly reputable companies. A few email exchanges later, they’re downloading a “test assignment” that turns out to be malware.What does this mean for your team? You can’t just worry about external threats—sometimes, the attack vector is sitting right in your Slack channels.
Over the past few years, I’ve seen first-hand how easy it is for a bad hire to slip through the cracks. Here’s what’s made a difference when building secure crypto teams:
A solid LinkedIn profile and a great GitHub repo aren’t enough. You need layered verification:
I once saw a candidate with an incredible Solidity portfolio get flagged during a deeper background check. Turns out, they had worked on a “DeFi project” that got drained in a rug pull. Dodged a bullet.
It’s not just about who you hire, but how much access they get. Crypto firms need to think like security-first enterprises:
Think of it like a bank—you don’t give the new teller the vault keys on their first day.
Most North Korean crypto hacks succeed because someone inside a company falls for social engineering. Whether it’s a fake recruiter, a phishing email, or a dodgy file download, human error is the weakest link.The best teams train like they expect to be targeted:
One of my clients started running quarterly security drills, and the results were night and day. People got savvier, stopped trusting every “urgent” email, and started flagging suspicious activity early.
North Korea’s crypto hacks aren’t slowing down. In fact, they’re evolving. Just last year, new reports showed that the Pyongyang-backed threat actors had pivoted to DeFi, targeting cross-chain bridges and liquidity pools.The reality is, if you’re in this space, you’re either actively protecting your project or you’re a target. There’s no middle ground.But the good news? The industry is wising up. Better hiring processes, stronger internal security, and a culture of vigilance are already making an impact. The firms that survive and thrive in this space will be the ones that treat cybersecurity as a core business function, not an afterthought.So, if you’re hiring in crypto, ask yourself: Are you building a team—or leaving the door open for North Korea’s next big score?